Fluid deflector system for endless chain propellers in amphibian craft



Aug. 14, 1956 E. J. EYRING FLUID DEFLECTOR SYSTEM FOR ENDLESS CHAINPROPELLERS IN AMPHIBIAN CRAFT Filed NOV. 10, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR EDWARD J. EYRING ATTORNEY Aug. 14, 1956 J EYRING E.. FLUIDDEFLECTOR SYSTEM FOR ENDLESS CHAIN PROPELLERS IN AMPHIBIAN CRAFT FlledNOV. 10, 1949 5 ShetsSheet 2 FIG 5 5 so 7 3| 9a 6 a! 9 I j as 40 In 36 Q2 so I 80 2| INVENTOR EDWARD J. EYRING ATTORNEY E. J. EYRING Aug. 14,1956 2,758,562 FLUID DEFLECTOR SYSTEM FOR ENDLESS CHAIN PROPELLERS INAMPHIBIAN CRAFT Filed Nov. 10, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG.7.

INVENTOR EDWARD J. EYRING ATTORNEY United States Patent FLUID DEFLECTORSYSTEM FOR ENDLESS CHAIN PROPELLERS IN AMPHIBIAN CRAFT Edward J. Eyring,Arlington, Va. Application November 10, 1949, Serial No. 126,652 5Claims. c1. 115-1 (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), see. 266)The present invention relates to endless chain propellers and moreparticularly to a fluid deflector system and apparatus for amphibiancraft.

Prior fluid propellers and impellers for track laying amphibian vehicleshave two major disadvantages. First, they attempt to adapt fixedimpeller blades to both fluid and land travel. This results in breakageand fouling when light weight thin section impellers are used, and inloss of effective propulsion when impellers were made heavy enough toavoid breakage. Secondly, it has been proposed to attach fixed paddlemembers to the outside rim of an amphibian traction belt. Thisarrangement creates so much drag during the return travel of the beltthat eflective propulsion is critically diminished.

The invention of copending concurrently filed application of Willard C.Baker for Amphibian Propulsion Mechanism, Serial Number 126,655, now U.S. Patent 2,680,421, avoids these and other disadvantages by pro vidinga series of fluid impeller blades arranged in cooperating relationshipwith a uniform series of fluid deflector vanes. The present inventionprovides a novel construction and arrangement of supplemental fluiddeflector means in an amphibian craft.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved system ofpropulsion for amphibian craft.

Another object is to provide power driven means for pumping fluid ontothe fluid propelling or impeller blades in an endless chain propeller.

A further object is to provide combination bogie wheel and pump meansfor discharging fluid laterally onto the fluid impeller blades of anendless traction belt.

An additional object is to provide novel deflector vanes for thedownward diversion of streams of fluid laterally pumped onto an endlesschain propeller.

Other equally important objects and many of the advantages of thepresent invention become readily apparent from the following detaileddescription which illustrates preferred embodiments thereof whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings thatdiagrammatically represent in:

Fig. l, a side elevation of a bogie wheel for operation on the left sideof an endless traction belt when viewed from the prow of an amphibiancraft;

Fig. 2, a front elevation of the wheel of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, an axial cross section of a companion wheel on the right side ofan amphibian craft;

Fig. 4, an axial cross-section of a pump spoke arrangement for the wheelof Fig. 2;

Fig. 5, a side elevation of a portion of an endless traction beltembodying my novel combined pumps and bogie wheels;

Fig. 6, a horizontal cross section taken on the line 6-6 in Fig. 5,viewed downwardly;

Fig. 7, a vertical cross section taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5 viewedfrom the prow of the craft;

Fig. 8, a diagram illustrating the flow pattern through the pumpingimpeller spokes in the wheel sets; and

Fig. 9, a cross section taken on the line 99 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 1 illustrates a preferred arrangement viewed in a fore to aftdirection of left side spokes in a left side wheel 40. Fig. 2illustrates the preferred arrangement of the hub portion 41 on theoutside face of a left side wheel 40. Figure 3 illustrates the preferredarrangement of the hub portion 21 on the outside face of a right sidewheel 20. Fig. 4 illustrates a preferred arrangement of the effectiveangles and 86 of spokes 80 of a left side wheel. Fig. 5, a preferredarrangement of the assembled vanes 30, ridges 36, right side spokes 60,left side spokes 80, propelling or impeller blades 50 and belt 70. Fig.6, a top plan view of the same assembly showing the flat inner faces ofthe wheels 20 and 40 positioned in cooperating arrangement with theadjacent sides of vanes 30. Fig. 7 illustrates an elevation of the sameassembly viewed in a fore to aft direction, and showing a vertical viewof the flow pattern thereover during fluid travel. Fig. 8, a top planview of the pairs of wheel sets for the traction belts 70 on each sideof the hull 90. It clearly illustrates the preferred arrangement of theangles of spokes 60 on the left side of each belt 70 and spokes 80 onthe right side of each belt when viewed in a fore to aft direction.Illustrated also is a horizontal view of the flow pattern of Fig. 7.Fig. 9 shows in cross section the hydrofoil conformation of dividingridge 36 on vanes 30.

In Figures 1 and 2 the bogie wheel 40 is arranged for operation on theleft side of belt 70 when viewed in a fore to aft direction and whenhull is traveling in the forward direction as indicated by the arrow atF in Fig. 8.

The wheel 40 comprises hub portion 41, bore 42, rim 46, and tire 45,which is made of rubber or material of similar characteristics toprovide suificient traction to assure the rotation of wheel 40 duringoperation. The left side spokes 80 are arranged with leading edge 81 andtrailing edge 82 in the preferred relative position as illustrated inFig. 4, and Fig. 2.

Each of the wheels is provided with a nut recess such as shown at 23 inFig. 3 and at 43 in Fig. 1 and with a hub recess such as is illustratedat 24 in Fig. 3. The nuts 72 are engaged with wheel axles 71 by means ofslots 73 as shown in Fig. 7.

As shown in Fig. 4 it is preferred to arrange the spokes 80 of left sidewheels 40 so that the center line 84 of their rim-engaging portion is atan angle 86 within of approximate range of 5 to 15 from the axis 74, andso that the center line 83 of their hub-engaging portion is at an angle85 within the approximate range of 30 to 60 from center line 84. Theseranges also apply to spokes 60 of right side wheels 20 which arearranged with their leading edge 61 directed outwardly and forwardly onthe right side of belt 70 as shown in Figures 7 and 8. These figuresalso illustrate the equivalent arrangement of leading edge 81 of spokes80 which are directed outwardly and forwardly on the left sid of belt70.

As illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, deflector vanes 30 are aflixed toinner wall 92 of hull 90 by any suitable attaching means such as thebolts indicated at 32, the

bolts 32 passing through a base plate portion 31 and into vane support94, not shown in Fig. 5. Mounted on vanes '30 by shafts 711 in hubs 21and 41 are bogie wheels 20 and 40 for rotating engagement with belt 70so that the series of fluid impeller blades 50 travel between the rightside wheels 20 and the left side wheels 40. A combined endless chainpropeller and traction belt 70 is preferably positioned on each side ofhull 90 as shown in Figure 8. Belt 70 is preferably constructed andarranged in cooperating relationship with vanes 30 and impeller blades50 as illustrated and de- 3 scribed in detail in the hereinbeforementioned copending application of Willard C. Baker.

However, in the present invention vanes 30 are provided with the novelflow dividing ridge portion 36 as illustrated in Figures 5, 7, and 9,and which acts to divide the flow into two streams as shown by thearrows at 100 and 101 in Figures 7 and 8, and as will be subsequentlydescribed herein.

In Figure 7 the belt 70 comprises land treads 52, foot portions 51,track links 54, connector links 53 and fluid impeller blades 50.

The upper traction surface of links 53 is preferably serrated or ridgedto insure the rotation of wheels 20 and 40 during operating engagementtherewith.

Vane support 94 on hull 90 holds base plate portion 31 of vanes in fixedrelationship preferably as illustrated in the herein mentioned copendingapplications. Skirt 91 and upper housing 93 form with back wall 92 ofhull 90 a channelway for admission of fluid to vanes 30. Fluid is alsoadmitted under the belly of hull 90 to spokes 60 and '80 of theinnermost wheels as shown in Figures 7 and 8.

As shown in Figure 7 the upper or base portion 33 of vanes 30 extendslaterally outward in the space between wheels 20 and 40. The elevatedsteam-lined ridge portion 36 extends downwardly on the effective face 34to a point above the area of axle 71, and is preferably under-cut toform the streamlined over-hanging lip portions 39 arranged to downwardlydirect the two streams divided by ridge 36, so that those streams willbe better concentrated on blades 50, as they leave the tip area 37 ofvanes 30. The arrangement of ridge 36 on effective face 34 of vanes 30,and the hydrofoil contour of back portions 35 of vanes 30 is furtherillustrated in the section of Fig. 9. The diagram in Fig. 8 illustratesa top plane view of the sets of right and left bogie wheels 20 and 40respectively indicated at R and L. The forward direction of travel ofhull 90 is indicated therein by the arrow at F, the concurrent directionof the fluid impelling travel of the belts 70 is indicated by the smallarrows at 70, and the concurrent direction of rotation of wheels 20 and40 and axles 71 is indicated by the arrows around the axles 71. The flowpattern of the fluid entering wheels 20 and 40 is shown by the arrows at100 and the flow pattern of the fluid deflected thereafter by vanes 30is indicated by the arrows at 101. The arrows at 100 in Figs. 7 and 8show the lateral flow pattern in both directions across the under sideof hull 90 or bottom of hull 90.

In a manner well known in the art, power is applied to drive belts 70along their fluid impelling course in the rearward direction indicatedby the arrows at 70 in Fig. 8. This causes hull '90 to travel throughthe fluid in a forward direction as indicated by the arrow at F. Thistravel of belts 70 concurrently causes the counter-clockwise rotation ofwheels 20 and 40 on axles 71, as shown in Fig. 8, as a result, of thefrictional traction between tires 25 .and 45 and links 53. Thereafterthe present invention provides the following:

Operation The water or other fluid medium in which hull may be afloatflows laterally outward over the bottom of hull 90 toward vanes 30 andconcurrently flows laterally inward under skirt portion 91 toward vanes30 as shown by arrows 100. As it reaches rotating wheels 20 and 40 it ispumped by fluid impeller spokes 60 and 80 through wheels 20 and 40 andinwardly with respect to ridge 36 and onto vanes 30 as shown in Figures7 and 8. Thereafter the two streams engaging the effective face 34 ofvanes 30 are kept from neutralizing their velocities by hydrofoil ridgeportion 36 and lips 39 which divide the streams, and deflect themdownwardly onto hydrofoil impeller blades 50 as shown by the arrows 101in the flow patterns of Figures 7 and 8. Therein it will be seen thatthe lateral velocities at 100 are accelerated by the pumping action ofspokes 60 and 80, and that the directions of flow of these acceleratedvelocities are diverted downwardly onto the effective face of blades 50where they are converted into additional forward thrust of hull byblades 50 on belts 70.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the aforementioned applicationof Willard C. Baker provided the novel cooperation of the inwardlyprojecting fluid impeller blades and ridgeless deflector vanes to directfluid downwardly to the blades. The present invention positively pumpsjets of fluid laterally to novel vanes that divide the streams, and thendeflects them downwardly. This overcomes laminar flow adjacent skirt 91and results in greatly augmented thrust reaction of blades 50.

Related hereto are the following concurrently filed copendingapplications of: Willard C. Baker and William Nicholas for AmphibianControl Mechanism, Serial No. 126,656, now U. S. Patent No. 2,705,470;Emil S. Cigledy, for Deflector System, Serial No. 126,660; Edward J.Eyring, for Deflector, Serial No. 126,654, now U. S. Patent No.2,730,064; and Willard C. Baker for Amphibian Propulsion Mechanism,Serial No. 126,655, now U. S. Patent 2,680,421; Edward I. Eyring, forDeflector Control, Serial No. 126,653.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or forthe Government of the United States of America for governmental purposeswithout the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

While only preferred embodiments of this invention have been disclosed,it is obvious that various modifications thereof are contemplated andmay be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the appended claims:

What is claimed is:

1. In combination in an amphibian craft; a combined endless chainpropeller and traction belt mounted to be supported by a series of bogiewheels on said craft; a series of inwardly projecting fluid propellingblades on said propeller; and a series of downwardly projectingdeflector vanes mounted on said craft to direct fluid downwardly to saidblades; said bogie wheels comprising fluid impeller spokes mounted topump water laterally and inwardly from each side of said chain propellerto said vanes during travel of said craft in a fluid.

2. In combination in an amphibian craft, a pair of opposed bogie wheelsthereon; one of said wheels being mounted to support one side of anendless traction belt and the other of said wheels being mounted tosupport the other side of said belt on said craft; a plurality ofobliquely positioned spokes on each of said wheels, said spokes actingto pump fluid laterally from each side to said belt; a pair of outwardlyprojecting ground treads on said belt; a series of inwardly projectingfluid propelling blades positioned on said belt intermediate saidtreads; and a series of fluid deflector vanes on said craft mounted todirect said laterally pumped fluid downwardly to said blades, duringfluid travel of said craft.

3. An amphibian craft for travel on ground and in a fluid, comprising ahull; endless chain propeller thereon; a pair of laterally spaced wheelscarried on said hull mounted to engage said chain propeller; each ofsaid wheels comprising spaced fixed fluid impeller vanes twisted to pumpsaid fluid laterally and downwardly into the space between said wheels,said chain propeller including propelling blades projecting within thespace between said pair of wheels and movable therein, said propellingblades being arranged to receive fluid pumped by said fluid impellervanes, and said propeller blades receiving thrust reaction fromsaidpumped fluid.

4. An amphibian craft as defined in claim 3 but further characterized bya deflector means positioned centrally in the upper part of said space,said deflector means 5 6 being shaped to deflect fluid downwardly tosaid propel- References Cited in the file of this patent ling blEldCS OfSaid chain PI'OPBllfiI. UNITED STATES PATENTS 5. An amphibian craft asdefined in claim 3 but further characterized by shaft means supportingsaid wheels 1'017215 Hg 131 1912 for free rotation thereon whereby saidwheels comprise 5 FOREIGN PATENTS bogie Wheels- 121.151 Germany June 6.1901.

